In line with the central government’s ‘Waste to Wealth’ mission, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has started using steel slag in road construction on a trial basis.
State-owned NHAI in a statement on Wednesday said this initiative will help to address the challenge of shortage of material used in the development of National Highways and could replace natural aggregates, such as gravel, sand, or crushed stone, with the steel industry’s waste material.
According to the statement, in the Raigarh district for PQC of the Panvel – Indapur section of NH 66 (near Mumbai), the authority permitted Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) to construct a one km long trial patch.
Here 100 percent natural aggregates were replaced by steel slag-derived aggregates. The results from the trial have been positive, it said.
The statement noted that, in road construction, the use of such material will make construction more economical and promote the circular economy and resource efficiency.
Set up in 1995 (Act 1988), the National Highways Authority of India is an autonomous agency of the central government. In the country, it is responsible for the management of a network of over 50,000 km of National Highways (NHs) out of 1,32,499 km.
It comes under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.